Elements of Prayer: PETITION

Petition is one of the easiest elements of prayer for us to grasp and understand as it is praying for our own needs. We naturally gravitate to petition because we know our needs and we are personally invested in seeing the answer to our prayers. It is not a struggle for us to come to the Lord with our petitions. On the contrary, the danger is that we can spend too much focus upon our needs.

But why do we need to ask an all-knowing God for what we need? Does He not already know what we need? Yes, He does but petition is for our benefit. It helps us to express and realize our dependency upon God. When we look at Jesus, we see that he was dependent upon His Father. He had to come before the Father in petition and ask. If Jesus had to ask, then so do we! E. Stanley Jones put it this way…

“Asking is the symbol of our desire, some things God will not give until we want them enough to ask.”

We are encouraged to ask the Lord to provide for everything we need. But when we pray it is good to be specific. “God bless me!” is a vague prayer, but “Lord, give me wisdom as I talk to the store clerk today and give me an opening to invite him to the Christmas service.” is specific. It is a complete prayer and it is simple. With such a prayer, it is easy to see how God answers the prayer.

It’s important to be specific, complete and simple in our requests, but we must also be submitted to the Holy Spirit. Asking the Spirit to guide our prayers and to guide us to pray for what will bring glory to God is essential for effective petition. It shifts the focus off us and restores it to the Lord, which is where our focus continually needs to be.

So, let us come to the Lord with specific petitions for everything we have need of spiritually and physically and then watch and wait to see how He will answer.